Ministry to produce Cantonese drama series

PETALING JAYA: Rivalry, competition, romance, betrayal and alliance are some of the basic ingredients of a soap opera and a new local Cantonese drama series has it all.

Entitled The Golden Chain (Tin Gei Bin or Lingkaran Emas), the narrative tells the story of two old friends turned business rivals whose children fall in love with each other.

Information Minister Datuk Paduka Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir introduced the programme yesterday and said it would fill in the slot of imported Cantonese films on television.

He added that there were too many films from abroad being shown here and so his ministry decided to produce the drama series.

He said he hoped it would be the best film produced locally so far.

Abdul Kadir said the series aimed to feature Malaysia as a beautiful country with tolerance, love, peace and close ties among its people who are from various races.

“In Malaysia, the Chinese have to live with the Malays, Indians, Kadazan, Iban and others.

“We hope the citizens, especially the Chinese, will watch this and find it entertaining and at the same time not forget that they are Malaysians who need to live harmoniously with citizens of other races,” he said at Filem Negara Malaysia yesterday.

Abdul Kadir said he hoped to market the series to places where Cantonese was spoken such as Hong Kong and the South of China.

The series, which would be produced by Filem Negara Malaysia, would begin production on Sept 6.

The cast would include 15 main characters played by actors such as Datuk Mustapha Maarof, Mustapha Kamal, Fasha Sandha, Dian P. Ramlee and Tan Kar Sim.

The series was expected to be shown on RTM1 from Nov 17 on Wednesdays and Sundays from 9pm to 10pm.